3rd hatch PICS

[cqranch]

Well I got 6 from my third hatch - another bust. Started with around 53 eggs.. 30 of those were shipped. Only 7 of the 30 shipped eggs were developing at first candling, only one made it far enough to hatch day.. it pipped, then died.

The remaining 23 were from my hens.. 16 developing good at first candling, only 7 made it to hatch day.. 6 lived, 1 pipped in center of egg and I didn't notice it until too late.

 

[Tsagirl]

those are beautiful chicks! what kind from your hens? are they mixed or pure?

mine are going to the hatcher today. uhhhh waiting is hard!

 

[cqranch]

The two yellows are pure BO.. the blacks are mixed.. I have barred rock hens, BA hens, white rocks. They were running with 6 mixed breed roos.

Next hatch will have pure BO again.. pure BA... then black and red sexlinks.. barred rock and white rock hens with a RIR roo

Plus then some mixed from a byc member.. woohoo..

 

[swtangel321]

CONGRATS on the babies

What cuties

Sorry about your kind of bad hatch, hope they start getting better for you

 

[Skip]

Congratulations!

Which hatchery did you use for those chicks? I'd like to know, so I can make a mental note never to use them.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Wow, you seem to have a lot of trouble with hatching! What kind of bator do you have? Is it still air or forced? What kind of thermo/hygrometer do you have? What temps and humidity do you keep it at days 1-18? Days 18-21? I have had problems with shipped eggs as well, but I have had at least 90% hatches with eggs from my own hens. There have been some that were flops, but they were either nonsanitized bators, low temps, too low humidity, and things like that. Hope you do better with your next hatch!

 

[cqranch]

shellyd - it's an LG still air. Three thermometers in there. all consistently read 99-101. Humidity was around 40-45 until day 18, then I increased to 60-65. This was the first hatch I've had where so many quit so early on. I'll make sure to clean bator extra good this time in case that was it.

Of course, I will keep trying. Have another set paid for, just waiting til after the holidays to ship. Will fill the remainder in with eggs from my hens again.

skip - I didn't use a hatchery. Some of the shipped eggs were from byc members, the others were mine. The chicks that hatched were all out of my hens.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

cqranch...it's likely nothing that you did wrong. Depending on how the shipped box was handled it's a miracle when you get 30-40% hatched. Just keep trying...one of these days you'll get a bunch from a shipment.

I had a dozen silkie egg shipment from Colorado and none developed. I set 15 silkie eggs from Wisconsin 3 days ago and EVERYONE of them has veins already. I swear it is just a crapshoot!

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
A good part of the eggs that the op keeps having trouble with are his own hen's eggs, that's why I was asking.

Do you use bleach when you clean the bator? That may help. I hope you have better luck with your next hatch!!

ETA: And I agree, it is a crapshoot, but I would think cqranch would have better luck with his own eggs.

Have you used the 40-45% humidity for all 3 hatches? Maybe try increasing it to 50% for incubation and 65-70% for the hatch? I have had much better luck this winter with higher humidity in mine. I also have an LG still air, actually 3 of them

 

[cqranch]

Would the fact that my hens are all young have anything to do with it? Only been laying well for couple months now. Yes, I do use some bleach when cleaning the bator. I'll try increasing the humidity, especially since it's colder, could be drier in the house, I did have to help some of these last out after they zipped because they got stuck. But still, only had 8 overall develop far enough to hatch, 6 of those 8 made it, the remainder that were developing quit early.